A Pretty Little Parody [PLL]

44. Plot Twist: We Have A Party

My old Poconos house looked just like I had remembered it--huge, made out of wood and glass, and foreboding. I didn’t know why, but as soon as I caught first glance of it, my heart started to race. It was painted a cheery red and had a lake almost directly in front of it--as in if you weren’t careful, you would tumble right into it. I hadn’t been there since I was really little, and being back gave me a weird sense of nostalgia. I left Ivana’s car parked at the edge of the lake and hiked up to the house along with my friends.

There were five white wicker chairs on the porch that my family must’ve added after I’d been sent off to boarding school. I unlocked the door and stared at them while Moby, Alec, Henry, and Evan filed in. A weird feeling filled my chest. I had now been Sasha for almost two years and had yet to see a problem with her life. Hell, my parents had probably brought her here every summer while I rotted away at Radley Heights. All of a sudden, I hated Eli for depriving me of my childhood. What had been so wrong with me that my parents had to send me away?

Someone touched my arm and I jumped back. It was A. He stood in the doorway, light shining behind him. “What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

“I feel weird,” I admitted, the bitter feeling hardening in my chest. “I haven’t been here in… well, in forever, really.”

He came and joined me on the porch. “So you’re nostalgic?”

“I guess.” I sat down on one of the chairs. It was surprisingly hard and crackled as my butt touched it, and I snickered.

“What’s so funny?”

“These chairs are making a funny noise.” I giggled and patted the seat. “Sit. You’ll know what I mean.”

He squeezed in next to me and the chair made a groaning noise. He snorted. “I love chairs that make funny noises,” he said.

“Me too.” I leaned into him and kissed him softly. “Thanks for getting help, by the way. I feel like I never got to thank you properly.”

“It was no biggie.” He looked at me hard for a second, like he was probing into my soul. It was the same look he’d given me when we’d first met, like he knew something about me that I didn’t. Which kinda made sense, if you thought about it. He wasn’t a stalker for nothing.

“There’s something you need to know,” he told me.

I involuntarily stiffened. Phrases like ‘there’s something you need to know’ and ‘I have to talk to you’ always made me nervous. “What is it?”

“Sasha, I… I know your brother.” A’s voice cracked. “Last year I was really fed up with all the superficial people in Rosebush and decided to transfer to this place called Riverdale, a boarding school further upstate. I guess I just wanted a to get away from it all. Anyway, there was this international exchange program there, and I got matched up with this guy named Eli Peterson from England. He was one of the coolest people I ever met--as soon as I saw him I knew we were going to be friends. He told me that he had a twin sister from Pennsylvania, and we got really close. Then I caught him one night making out with a guy from his school--Tris, the one that was with him tonight--and videotaped them. He got really mad and we never talked again, but when I saw you there, I knew that you had to be the twin sister he’d talked about so highly.” He gave my hand a squeeze. “Sorry about not telling you earlier. I didn’t want to freak you out.”

I leaned into him. “I understand. I probably would’ve done the same thing.” I remembered the picture Alison had sent me of A and Eli--you have the question, I have the answer!, she’d written. It all made sense now. Sort of. “I think rescuing Eli cancels out the creepiness of the video.”